


The Duke and The Snake

by orphan_account



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Swearing, dukeceit, panic attack mentions, virgil is a lil bitch in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:49:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21865498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: This story takes place in the MindScape.Deceit was never the type to have a lot of friends. And he never wanted them either. He didn't need people to be close to him. He had himself and that was all he needed.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26
Collections: Sanders Sides Secret Santa 2019





	The Duke and The Snake

Deceit had never been someone who needed friends, needed to be around them, have their company. Deceit always knew everything. Deceit was the type of person people who came to when they needed help. Granted, no none had ever taken his advice and been successful, but still. He had never need anyone but himself. 

But he was stood at Princey’s door, his hand raised to knock and mentally running over what he was going to say. He was going to knock. He was going to knock. 

Just, maybe not today. 

Yeah, it was late and he was probably busy or sleeping or something like that and he’d come back some other time.

Deceit let his hand fall and turned away from the door. He was prepared to leave about to walk away. Some other time. He was about to leave, to return to his room and stare at the ceiling for the rest of the night and avoid thinking about the only thing he wanted to think about. 

But Logic said his name from the end of the hall and with that one word, hissed in the dead of night from an exhausted nerd and heard only by a foolish snake, everything Deceit would go through was changed, everything Deceit was shifted drastically.

_ “Deceit?” _

_ “Deceit?”  _ Logic’s groggy voice drifted down the hallway.

“Hello, Logic. I wasn’t just leaving.” Deceit said, internally cursing. He should’ve been faster. 

“No, no. Stay. I don’t get to talk to you much.” Logic whispered, gesturing for Deceit to follow him to the kitchen. Deceit considered fleeing the other direction but quickly dismissed the idea. Logic might wake up the others and Deceit could not handle that at the moment. So he followed and let Logic make them tea and bustle around the kitchen. Minutes later, the two of them were sat across from each other, a muffin and a hot tea in front of them, an uncomfortable silence settling across the room.

“No thank you for the tea.” Deceit finally said. Logic nodded.

“You’re welcome.” Silence resumed for several minutes, Deceit’s mind whirling with various ideas to get out of this, all of them quickly discarded as Logic watched him. Finally, just as Deceit was about to say he needed to get to bed, Logic spoke. 

“Why did you come up here? You know Morality wouldn’t be very happy if he saw you and the others wouldn’t be happy to see you gone either.” Deceit looked at Logic curiously, immediately noticing the phrasing. 

“Morality and the others would be happy?” The unspoken question behind his words was obvious.  _ What about you? _

“Well, Anxiety has yet to have a single positive interaction with Princey and we haven’t seen...Him since it happened.” There was an awkward pause before he continued. “You and Morality work against each other so naturally there is some animosity between the two of you. But I’ve yet to see any proof of you being a bad side and so my feelings toward you remain neutral, if not positive.” Deceit forced down a smile at that. Princey hung out with him sometimes because he could feel exactly what Princey wanted said and so he said it but that wasn’t real friendship. Anxiety hung out with him simply because he was the only choice.

But now, there was Logic. Someone with no bad opinions or experiences that Deceit could try and be friends with. If he played his cards right, he could have a friend that actually liked him, that didn’t hang out with him because he was lonely or because he was flattered.

“Ok.” He whispered, suppressing his smile, looking up at Logic. “What don’t you want to talk about?”

“That’s it.” Logic said angrily, standing up and crossing his arms. “This is proof that you are a horrible side and don’t belong here.” He snarled. “I can’t believe I thought I could be friends with such a fool.”

Deceit rolled his eyes. “The dress is white and gold and that’s the tea.”

“No, it isn’t! It’s black and blue!” Logic said far too loudly, before covering his mouth and checking down the hallway to make sure the other sides were still awake. He continued, quieter. “I can’t even look at you right now, that’s how angry I am. That is, I just.. “ He stuttered over his words, trying to put into words his frustration. “You know what, Deceit...oh.” He started out strong and firm before slowly understanding dawned across his face and his shoulders slumped as he put his forehead in his hand. Deceit raised his eyebrows at him, sipping his now cold tea to hide his smile, watching the conflicting emotions on his face.”You speak in lies.” He sighed, sitting back down and glaring at Deceit, who had to bite his cheek to keep from laughing. “Have I been arguing with someone who agrees with me for the past twenty minutes?” Deceit didn’t trust himself to answer, but the mirth in his eyes was more than enough of an answer for Logic, who put his head down on the table with a groan. Deceit smirked at the exhausted side but his grin quickly slipped from his face when he heard a door open down the hall and one of the other enter the bathroom. He stood up quickly, Logic sitting up as well.  
“Well, as fun as this hasn’t been, Anxiety won’t be wondering where I have gone and I shouldn’t be going.” He said quickly, turning to leave but Logic caught his arm before he could. 

“It was quite enjoyable hanging out with you. Perhaps we could do it again sometime?” Logic asked, tilting his head. Deceit nodded quickly and smiled at the logical side, before making his escape.

“Where did you go, why did you leave, you were gone for ages?” The anxious side demanded as soon as Deceit stepped in the door. He was sitting on the couch, huddled up in his oversized hoodie and clutching a mug in his hands. Deceit shook his head as he smelt the freshly brewed coffee scent throughout their section of the mindscape.

“Drinking that coffee must be fantastic for you.” He scolded, ignoring the question as he went to their kitchen and poured himself some. 

“Quit avoiding the question, hypocrite.” He joined Deceit in the kitchen.

“Logan needed to be lied to for a bit so he’d go to sleep.” Deceit lied. Anxiety nodded, believing him. It wasn’t rare for Deceit to have to go to the other sides and tell them “ The schedule is planned out enough for Thomas to get his work done this week, Logic.”or tell Roman, “That isn’t a bad idea, it might be fun.” Just telling them what they needed to hear so Thomas could relax, until Anxiety eventually kicked in and told them “You need to get your work done as soon as possible, in case something prevents you from doing at those times you had set” and convince everyone “Princey, that’s a horrible idea. It’s cringy and embarrassing and people are going to judge you for it and its going to be the end of everything.” It was a good system.

“I’m going to my room.” Anxiety sighed, reaching for the rest of the coffee. Deceit snatched it and downed it, wincing as it scalded his throat. He shrugged at the glare Anxiety sent him. 

“It’s clearly going to help you.” Deceit said. “How many times are we going to have to see that until you decide to stop?” Anxiety snapped and a new pot of coffee appeared. 

“I will never stop.” He called, grabbing the pot and leaving as Deceit shook his head at him. 

Deceit was doing fantastic. He had had several more late night chats with Logic, which, while left Thomas less well rested then he would’ve been, made him happier overall now that his sides were actually working together. Anxiety was calmer, Creativity was bubbling with ideas and they were getting things done on time, which made Logic happy. With everyone fine and happy, Morality was top-notch. It was the best Thomas had been doing in awhile.

Of course it wouldn’t last.

Thomas had gone to bed early at Logic’s request. Creativity, having been so busy recently, decided Thomas would be fine if he didn’t dream for the night and turned in, making Deceit the last remaining side awake.

Or so they thought.

He was in the kitchen, making some hot chocolate, when Deceit heard a door creak open loudly at the other side of the Dark MindScape. He added more water to the pot, figuring Anxiety had a nightmare and would want some. But then unfamiliar footsteps came down the hall and his heartbeat doubled.

Had something snuck in through the Imagination door? It had happened to the Light MindScape once before. But in order for that to happen, someone would have to open the Dark Side’s door and the only one who could do that would be Creativity. And he had his own doorway, which meant…

Before Deceit could finish his thought, Creativity popped his head in, a large, almost deranged looking smile on his face. But it wasn’t the Light Side Creativity, it wasn’t Princey, it was…

“What are we even supposed to call you?” Deceit blurted. Princey’s other half shrugged and stretched on the couch, still with that insane smile.

“You can call me whatever you want. I don’t really have a name since my dear brother took the title.” The dark clothed prince? (He was dressed in some kind of royal costume), said. Deceit nodded and the kettle screamed, demanding attention. He winced and grabbed it, but it was too late. Another creak echoed through the mindscape and footsteps shuffled down the hallway. Deceit panicked, glancing between the side on the couch and the hallway Anxiety was coming down. Just before he entered the common room, Deceit made a decision, sending a pleading glance towards the other side, begging him to just go with it. He pulled every bit of strength from deep within him and used his powers for the very first time. 

Anxiety shuffled into the room, doing a double take at the couch. He could have sworn he saw one of the other sides there but when he looked again, it was empty. He shook his head and blamed it on his just having been woken up. Speaking of which…

“Are you making hot chocolate without me?” Anxiety fake-gasped, putting his hand to his heart and collapsing on the couch. “ _ Betrayal _ .” 

“I didn’t add more water to boil when I heard you coming.” 

Deceit’s heart almost stopped when Anxiety landed directly next to the other side, almost crushing him. Deceit widened his eyes at the side, trying to get him to move but he looked away.

“I didn’t add more water when I heard you coming.” He said, struggling to talk and keep the prince’s twin hidden at the same time. He had never had to use this power before, only having practiced it once or twice when they were all still friends, before Morality had thrown them out. They all had powers like his, based on their respective roles. Deceit could hide things or sides, Anxiety could force the sides to listen (his voice vibrated and grew louder when he did it. Before they had left, Creativity had named it Tempest Tongue.) and the respective Creativities could control Thomas’s dreams and go into the imagination. They never learned Logic and Morality’s. “You shouldn’t be sleeping right now, I won’t bring some to your room when it’s ready.” Deceit forced out, trying to keep his voice from shaking. He couldn’t let Anxiety see the side, last time they had crossed paths, it sent Thomas into a spiral and Anxiety was on edge for over a month. He could not let that happen.

“You’re too kind.” Anxiety yawned, stretching and almost hitting the new side in the face. “Knock and leave it outside my room, please.” Deceit nodded, leaning on the counter to keep from collapsing, hos legs shaking beneath him. His mouth was dry as a desert and his head was pounding. Anxiety rolled off the couch and Deciet’s eyes were burning as he watched him walk out of the room. Just as he stepped into the hallway and went out of sight, Deceit ran out of energy and let go, the side popping back into sight. Somehow, he managed to lower himself to the ground quietly instead of collapsing on the ground. 

Resting on the cool floor, his head screaming at him and sweat rolling off his face, almost crying. He felt like he was going to throw up and everything hurt. He wasn’t sure how long he had been laying there, shaking and crying silently, when he felt a pair of eyes boring into his skin. He managed to open his eyes and realized at some point the lights had been turned off. He could see the faint outline of someone crouching on the counter. 

“Snakey, you okay?” A voice crooned softly. Deceit couldn’t bring himself to answer and the side seemed to take that as an answer. He jumped off the counter and he heard cupboards being opened and things being moved. Deceit closed his eyes again and just listened to the side moving around him, carefully making sure not to step on him. He heard him pick something up and then he walked away. He was leaving, Deceit thought. Thank God, now there was no way Anxiety would see him. But then he heard a knock on a door and realization dawned on him. He made the hot chocolate for Anxiety. But why? Probably just to make sure he stayed unnoticed, Deceit decided. The side returned and Deceit panicked as he felt the cool floor disappear beneath him and a pair of arms wrap around him. He tried to struggle but he was still exhausted and the strange side had no difficulty carrying him, bridal style, down the hallway. They stopped at the door of Deciet’s room and the side whispered so quietly that Deceit barely heard him.

“Can I go inside?” Deceit nodded and the door swung open. The side stepped inside the warm room and carried Deceit across the room, somehow avoiding the millions of obstacles on the ground, to gently lay him on his bed. Deceit stared up at the blurry outline of the side, confused and intrigued by this strange new side. The side pulled a blanket over Deceit and turned on the space heater on his nightstand, then slowly crept out of the room, leaving Deceit to wonder about them until his exhaustion pulled him into darkness. 

“It’s ridiculous! He doesn’t have time for this, he’s spreading himself to thin, he needs to prioritize his work and his health over his friends! He is going to burn himself out and I’m going to have to be the one to pull everything together.” Logic started off angrily, face red and waving his hands around to emphasise his words, before slowing down and collapsing against the back of the couch and putting his head in his hands. “Why won’t they listen to me?” He growled, digging his hands into his hair. 

Deceit stared at his friend in shock. In the weeks that they had argued and debated about the most extreme and the most miniscule topics, from climate change to the best way to tie your shoes, from society’s unspoken laws to how to pronounce GIF, he had never seen the logical side this upset and angry. Logic had sent a text earlier asking if he could come over to their MindScape and the moment he walked in, he had begun ranting about Thomas’s most recent dilemma and how the other sides never listened to him. Watching the frustrated side’s face, Deceit knew exactly what he needed to do. 

“Logic, why is the sky blue?” He asked. It was a simple question, one that he already knew the answer to but it was the first thing he had come up with and it would work fine for the situation at hand. Logic looked up confused, but after seeing the look Deceit sent him, he began to answer.

“Well, it’s not that complicated. Sunlight reaches Earth’s atmosphere and gets scattered-” Deciet nodded while he spoke and went to go make them some tea. When Logic finished explaining, he asked another question.

“How do airplanes fly?” Logic launched into another explanation as he passed him a cup of chamomile tea, nodding his thanks.

Deceit asked several more questions and listened carefully to the nerd, absorbing the information even if he already knew the answers to some of the questions. Eventually, after around the 20th question, Deceit didn’t ask another and just put a comforting hand on Logic’s shoulder.

“Thanks. That was smart and it helped.” Logic muttered, not meeting his eyes. “Sorry fo-” Deceit cut the nerd off immediately.

“Nope, No, nada, absolutely not. You aren’t apologizing for being angry. I distracted you for a minute so it would be easier for you to talk about clearly and calm down a little bit, not because I'm not going to sit here all night and listen to whatever the heck those morons did this time.”

And he did just that, blood slowly boiling and loudly voicing his complaints as Logic detailed the latest issue with Thomas and the other sides flawed solution, completely throwing out Logic’s. The two stayed up all night on the couch, muffled laughter and screaming into pillows as they recalled stories about the other sides inability to listen to reason. And if the logical side passed out on the couch, face smeared with Crofter’s, no one would be able to prove it.

It was weeks before he saw the other version of creativity again, so long that he almost forgot it. He never even shared what happened with Logic, not thinking it important. But the next time he appeared, it was a topic that popped up in their conversations often, even as weeks passed.

Everyone was on edge, Anxiety and Morality especially. Christmas was a week away which meant everyone was busy and pushed to their limits.

Anxiety and Deceit were constantly in the Light Side MindScape because it was easier to work from there, but it sent Thomas into chaos. Anxiety was constantly present, whispering fears about homophobic realitives and saying the wrong thing or getting someone the wrong thing, ignoring the others protests and Logic trying to reason his way throught those fears.

Morality and Deceit were constantly at each other's throats, shouting about little white lies that make things easier and it not being necessary. Morality needed to chill, it was making Thomas’s life easier and it wasn’t like it was hurting anyone. Logic was trying to calm everyone down but not a single side was listening for more than a few minutes. Deceit did feel a little bad, he knew how he felt about that, but Morality was being overbearing and rude. It was like he was putting moral purity above Thomas’s well being and he made sure to tell him that everytime he stopped Thomas from lying. It was hurting Thomas everytime Morality took over and Deceit made sure he knew it.

Creativity was bickering with everyone over everything. Deceit could tell he was feeling a little insecure, Thomas having failed the fifth audition in a row less than a week ago but he wasn’t feeling very sympathetic at the moment. They were all stressed and tired but for the most part they managed to avoid needless bickering, while Creativity seemed like he was going out of his way to cause trouble. 

It was during one of those needless arguments caused by Creativity, over what Deceit wasn’t even sure, he walked in part way through and just flopped down on the couch with a coffee, ready to judge whatever was going on when it happened.

Creativity, Morality and Anxiety were all yelling, it was hard to hear exactly what, but it seemed like Anxiety and Morality had gotten into a small disagreement over something and then Creativity stepped in and took Morality’s side, probably said something mean to Anxiety and one thing had lead to another like always and Anxiety and Creativity were in the middle of a civil war, Morality trying to keep it civil and Logic waiting on the sidelines for it to be quiet so he could step in and try to shut it down.

Deceit was of the opinion that it was way too late for this and that the time was the only thing that mattered. Thomas had been in bed for half an hour and their needless fighting was keeping him awake. He was debating using his power to shut them all up and wondering if he could even do that, when he heard it.

_ What would happen if you killed your neighbor? _

The question was quiet and it appeared that only Deceit had heard it. He looked around the room, trying to figure out who had said it. 

_ Robbing a bank would fix all of your problems. You could take someone hostage, they would have to let you go then. _

Deceit made eye contact with Logic and he tapped his ear. Deceit nodded in return, letting him know he wasn’t the only one who heard it. His heart rate picked up a little bit. What was happening? Whatever it was definitely wasn’t good.

“You guys, can you be quiet for a second?” Logic yelled over the still screaming trio.

“You know what. Logic? Put a sock in it, you don’t get to tell us what to do, you aren’t in charge here.” Creativity called back, scowling at him.

”Don’t yell at Logic just because you’re too sad and pathetic to keep yourself under control!” Deceit hollered back, hopping to his feet. He knew deep down this wasn’t going to help, that Logic didn’t need him to defend him and that they needed to get everyone quiet and figure out what was going on, but he wasn’t just going to just sit there and let them take their issues out on his friend for no reason. 

“Don’t talk to him like that!” Morality demanded. Deceit saw Logic shake his head and motion for him to just let it go, but he was not going to let the moral sides hypocrisy go on any longer.

“Oh, but it’s perfectly fine for him to rip on Logic for no reason, that’s great.” 

“It’s not like he has feelings.” Creativity said, rolling his eyes and the room went into screaming once more. Everyone was yelling to be heard, pointing fingers and trying to be louder than the others. Thank God for that, some of the things Deceit was calling Creativity and Morality would give Satan a heart attack. Only Logic sat quietly, face bored and covering his ears, waiting for the explosion to end.

It did end suddenly, but not in the way these things normally did, with someone bursting into tears or storming off or everyone getting tired, but with a sentence rising above the chaos, spoken quietly, but overpowering everyone. 

_ What if you killed your grandmother? _

Confused, everyone exchanged glances. Anxiety bit his lip, already starting to become more anxious, and he moved by Deceit. Morality was frowning and crossing his arms, looking very disappointed and upset. They could all sense Thomas shifting and becoming more uneasy. He wasn’t quite aware of the thoughts yet, but he was going to notice them soon

“Who’s doing that, it’s not funny.” Creativity rolled his eyes and turned to Deceit and Anxiety, who took a step back. “Come on, you two. No one is laughing, knock it off.” 

“Yes, because it’s definitely our fault.” Deceit hissed.

“Why did you immediately jump to it being our fault? We haven’t done shit to you, you need to chill the fuck out.” Anxiety snapped, winding his sweater strings around his fingers. 

“Well, forgive me for believing that the two sides who go out of their way to seem dark and edgy would be evil.” 

Deceit prepared to rip into the arrogant prick but was interrupted by a small chuckle from the kitchen. The sides whipped around to see the same side that Deceit had met long ago and Deceit felt his heart stop as Anxiety pushed him back a little and hiss loudly at the new side.

Gasps were coming from every single side as they gazed at the side and Deceit remembered that they hadn’t seen him in a long time. Logic had his head tilted and fidgeting with his glasses, which Deceit knew was his thinking face. Creativity had a strange look on his face, like he wasn’t certain how to feel and Morality had a large grin on his face, looking a little forced but still sort of genuine. Deceit wasn’t sure how to feel either. What did this new side want? Who was he?

“Hello, Brother.” The dark clothed Creativity (was he still Creativity?) shrieked, his voice cracking and high pitched. Deceit winced at the sound and Morality cringed a little, the smile on his face getting more forced and fake.

“Hello?” Creativity returned and he stepped forward a little.

It happened years ago, but the memory was still clear as day. They were young, around 12 or so. Creativity had been feeling under the weather and Logic was trying to take care of them. Morality would’ve done so, but Anxiety had recently formed and he was still learning how things worked and the two of them were working together to get him caught up. Creativity had begged Deceit to tell him a story, saying that he was the best at painting pictures with his words.

It was one of the last happy memories Deceit had before The Division, actually.

Or at least, it was happy for a little bit.

Deceit had embarked on a tale of horror and adventure, making sure to indulge the little prince’s love of both when Morality and Anxiety appeared in the doorway. They sat silently for a minute watching them, before Morality finally spoke.

“I don’t know if you should have such a gory and gross story, Deceit.” He said, tugging on his sweater strings.

“I like it though!” Creativity piped up, his face pale but smiling brightly up at Deceit.

“I don’t know.” Anxiety spoke up, face covered by his hood and digging into the ground with his shoe. “I mean, how are you coming up with stuff? A woman getting her eyes stolen by eagles? That’s pretty dark, dude.”

“It’s just a story.” Deceit muttered. This new side had no clue what he was talking about, it’s not like they were hurting anyone and Morality needed to get that stick out of his butt. He never liked anything Deceit did.

“But how are you coming up with this stuff? It’s gross and wrong and evil.” Morality declared, putting his hands on his hips. “What if Thomas is influenced by your story and does something?”

“I highly doubt a story could corrupt Thomas into some kind of criminal.” Logic interjected.

“It’s called desensitization,  Logic . Too much time exposed to bad things can make them feel normal and fine.”Logic rolled his eyes and Deceit sighed. Creativity looked back and forth between the sides, gnawing on his lower lip.

“Well,  Morality , it would take a long time of being exposed to it and Deceit telling a story isn’t going to corrupt Thomas.”

“Enough, Logic. I’ve come to my decision. Thinking and talking about that kind of stuff is wrong and can’t be done anymore. Those stories and stuff you and Creativity come up with are done, you got that?” Morality ordered.

“I like that stuff. But it’s wrong?” The sick side asked, looking at his friend. Deceit opened his mouth to say no, that Morality was being to strict but Morality beat him to it.

“Yes and if you continue to enjoy that kind of thing, then you are wrong and broken.” He flinched at those words and Deceit had reached his limit.

“How dare you? You aren’t in charge and you can’t tell someone their interests are disgusting, you asshat!” Deceit yelled, the side flinching as he stepped up and go into his face.

“Get back, now.” Morality demanded, shoving him back and that’s the straw that broke the camel's back. Someone needed to put him in his place and that someone was gonna be Deceit, he decided and he threw himself at him, knocking him to the ground as Anxiety hollered and jumped back and Logic’s voice saying something, probably trying to get them to stop.

“Stop, you guys, stop!” Creativity's keen voice cut through the chaos, but they ignored it. Rolling around on the ground, Deceit managed to get on top and pin Morality down, only to yell and roll of when he clamped his teeth down onto his finger. Morality threw himself down on top of Deceit but he kicked him off. They grappled for the top position, until Deceit’s shoulders were seized and he was yanked backward, Logic holding him back as he lunged at Morality, who was panting hard as Anxiety stood in front of him. 

“Stop, enough, this isn’t helping.” Logic said, trying to hold Deciet’s jerking body in place as he desperately squirmed, wanting nothing more to knock that smug look off his face. 

He wasn’t prepared for Logic to release him though and he immediately hit the floor when Logic hit the floor with a shout. He was about to tackle the moral side when he caught sight of why Logic had released him.

On the bed, Creativity was huddled in the fetal position, glitching out like a video game. Words were pouring out of his mouth, most of them garbled but some of the could be deciphered, words like “wrong”, “No”, “What” and loudest of all, “Help.” Deceit stood frozen, Anxiety screaming into his hoodie and gasping desperately between muffled screams at his side. Deceit couldn’t breathe or speak or move, a sharp contrast to the anxious side who was shaking so hard he could barely stand.

Logic and Morality kept their wits about them and both kneeled on the bed, trying desperately to help as the Creative side glitched in and out of existence, static and garbled noises coming from them.

“Creativity, can you hear me? Stay calm, please.” Logic said, face white as he hovered his hands above the side, unsure and unwilling to try and see if touching would help or harm the screaming side. Morality had no such qualms and tried to put his hand on his shoulder. The moral side quickly realized that was a bad idea, when the static grew even louder, then he was thrown across the room into the wall with a loud crash and groan.

Deceit didn’t feel concerned for long, the moral sides possible injuries were quickly forgotten when Creativity  literally split into two and then merged back together. 

“What the hell?” Logic shouted, falling off the bed as a flailing arm caught him the face.

That static and screaming grew louder and louder, garbled words spewing from the side as he twisted and turned, pulling at his hair and scratching at his skin, almost like he was trying to pull himself apart. 

And when Deceit saw a third arm appear in the twisting mess that was Creativity, he knew what he had to do.

He stepped forward and latched onto it, pulling hard as he stepped back. He had a brief moment of panic as the scream grew even louder and he almost let go, but then the screams split into two distinct voices, shouting and screaming in pain and he knew he had to keep going.

He back up more, pulling hard as Logic met his gaze and understanding flashed in his eyes, before he hopped up and grabbed an arm.

“Pull!” Deceit screamed over the noises and Logic nodded.

“The two of them backed up on opposite sides of the beds, a step at a time, putting every ounce they had into it. It seemed to go on forever, but it was probably only around five minutes, when two distinct faces appeared, both contorted in pain and shouting. At this point, almost their full bodies had separated, only parts of the back and a leg still combined.

“Now! Give it all you’ve got!” Logic shrieked, throwing himself backwards, gripping his arm as tight as he could. Deceit did the same, straining and trying desperately, pulling with every remaining bit of energy and strength he had left.

And then, with a loud snap, they were separated and Deceit was thrown backward, bringing the boy with him and crashing into Anxiety on the way. The three lay in a heap on the ground, Deceit panting for air, while Anxiety continued to scream into his sweater, muffling it enough that he could barely hear it and the side they had pulled cried softly on the ground beside them, barely conscious. He was wearing black leggings that only went halfway to the shin and a plain black t-shirt.

Looking over at Logic, he saw them in a similar situation, having fallen back and landing by Morality. The side he had dragged out of the heap was wearing similar clothing, but all white. He didn’t seem to be very conscious or aware either, just crying as he lay against the cold ground. Thankfully, Morality seemed to be all right and was trying to make sure both sides in his pile were okay.

Anxiety’s screams began to quiet and he went to just breathing hard. When he finally pulled himself under enough control, he gasped out a single sentence.

“What in the fuck was that?” Deceit shrugged helplessly, rubbing the shoulder he had landed on as he used the other hand to awkwardly pat the shoulder of the new side. He wasn’t very good at comforting people.

But apparently Logic put together the clues and came up with a thesis.

“My guess is we just saw Creativity split into half.”

“But why?” Deceit asked. He had a pretty good guess but he wanted to hear Logic say it.

“Well, Morality.” He said, gesturing to the side at his side and Deceit nodded, his theory confirmed.

“Whoa, hold up. This was not my fault.” He said, defensively.

“Not intentionally. But by making your opinion on gore and horror stuff known, you caused Creativity to be split into what you, and therefore Thomas, view as good creativity, unicorns and rainbows and all that nonsense, and bad creativity, zombies, blood and anything else of that sort.”

“Well, who’s who?” Anxiety asked.

“And where’d Creativity go?” Deceit demanded. He couldn’t believe he was the only one who wanted to know what had happened to his best friend.

“My guess is white is ‘Good Creativity’ and black is ‘Bad Creativity’.” Logic said, intentionally avoiding Deceit’s gaze.

“And? Creativity?” Deceit demanded, knowing the answer, but not wanting to accept it.

“He’s gone.” Logic whispered and Deceit saw a tear hit the floor. “This is Creativity now.” He said gesturing to the sides on the floor, who had drifted to unconsciousness.

Tears began to roll down Deceit’s face as he stood up and stood over Morality.

“I hope you’re happy with yourself. You killed Creativity.” The boy said, legs shaking.

“I didn’t do it, I never meant for it to happen, I'm sorry.” The moral side gulped, tears streaming down his face.

“You should be.” Deceit hissed, before collapsing by Logic’s side.

The 12 year old sides laid on the ground, all across the room, mourning the Creative side. 

Anxiety cried for the boy he never got to know and who he had barely spoken to.

Morality cried for the boy who had laid with him and watched Disney and joked with him, who had been in countless pillow fights and late night cookies missions with him.

Logic cried for the boy who had crafted an exact copy of the Milky Way for him in The Imagination on Logic’s birthday, giving him permission to visit whenever and had been content to listen to Logic rant on about the stars for hours and hours.

Deceit cried for his best friend who had laughed and screamed with him for over ten years, a constant sidekick and defendant in any battles they needed to fight, whether it be against a fictional villain or a fellow side.

They all cried for a boy that would never be mentioned again, who’s smile and laugh would fade from memory over the years, who would be replaced by an arrogant prince and a dark clad side who would vanish for years, never seen again.

Until today.

  
  


“You’re him, the other half of Creativity?” Logic asked, quietly and Deceit knew he had remembering that day as well.

“Yes, I suppose you could call me that. But, why not just call me by my real name?” The dark-clothed Creativity shrilled, even more high-pitched than before.

“Real name?” Morality questioned, tilting his head.

“Yeah, I’m more than Creativity after all, right? Like you, you do more than make sure Thomathy is being smart, right?” He said, gesturing at Logic. Deceit considered this and realized it did make a lot of sense. They were more than their overarching roles so having real names would be fair. Well, the others did. Try as he might, he couldn’t think of anything he did that wasn’t helping Thomas lie.”Anyways, my names Remus!” Morality smiled brightly at Remus.

“Well that’s awful smart, kiddo!” Morality cheered, his smile looking less forced. “Maybe we’ll come up with names for ourselves.” He suggested looking at the others. Only Roman seemed interested in that prospect and his smile dimmed a little. Deceit spotted his shoe was untied and kneeled down to tie it real quick.

“Well, it’s a good idea, Remus.” What role do you fill here?” Morality asked turning back to the front. “Remus?” He asked, looking around confused. Deceit stood back up and saw what had left the moral side so confused.

Remus had vanished.

“Remus?” Creativity called, a note of panic in his voice. Deceit could understand why. The only person who understood what he had went through had vanished for years and just when he had returned, vanished again. He probably had so much to say, so much to ask.

All the sides felt Thomas shift and heard the thought echo throughout the mindscape.

“What if you hit Joan with a car?” Remus’s very recognizable voice drifted through the room. Thomas felt of distress at that and Anxiety and Morality both freaked out, Anxiety’s heartbeat increasing and form tensing, while Morality’s smile immediately dropped from his face and he took on the look of a parent whose kid had been caught stealing. They immediately began to speak, projecting their voices into Thomas’s thoughts.

You see, the sides were Thomas, they were all facets of him and they lived inside his head. Everything Thomas knew and said, the sides knew about, but not vice versa. When the sides talked to each other, they were just vague, quiet thoughts that Thomas never noticed. They could project their voices and make them louder, for lack of a better term, so they became Thomas’s thoughts. 

That’s what Anxiety and Morality began to do immediately.

“Thomas, don’t think like that, it’s wrong.” Morality went off, lecturing Thomas about it not being okay.

“Dude, what the heck? Why would you think that? That’s so wrong and weird and bad, like what the hell?” Anxiety freaked out, ranting. 

“Where’s that coming from?” Creativity asked, looking uneasy as well, though nowhere near the level the other two were.

“Well, we’re all here and there’s only one other side.” Logic said, like he was speaking to a very small child. Creativity huffed and then raised his voice, not quite projecting but close.

“Remus, get back here.” He called and there was a loud crash from somewhere in the Mindscape before Remus came sprinting back into the room, swinging a morning star around wildly. He tripped on the edge of the fluffy white carpet and Anxiety and Morality both threw themselves backwards as Remus lost his grip on the morning star and it flew directly at them, missing them narrowly and thudding against the wall, leaving a large gash in it as it thunked to the floor.

Morality climbed to his feet and offered his hand to help Anxiety up, which he refused. “What in the hell?” He screeched, looking between the morning star and Remus, breathing hard and clearly freaking out. “What in the flying fuck?” His voice rose another octave as Deceit kneeled next to him, putting his hand on his shoulder to try and ground him. Now was not the time to lose it, though Deceit had more than a few questions.

At the accusing stares and wide eyes of the other sides directed at him, Remus just shrugged. “I got bored and I found a morning star, then I tripped. As interesting as it would be to see that happen, I didn’t throw it at you on purpose.”

“Interesting to see?” Anxiety’s voice got even tighter and he looked like he was about to lose it. “What in the actual fuck, lIterally? What in actual, just what? Just like, Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.” His voice cracked on the last word and Deceit could see how close he was to losing it. He needed to be distracted fast.

Luckily, Princey took note of that. Unfortunately, he did it in the worst way possible. As Deceit pulled Anxiety off the ground and tried to silently offer his support and make him breathe, Princey decided to ask Remus another question.

“What about those thoughts that Thomas just had? Were those you?” Remus looked at him weird and shrugged.

“Well, yeah, duh. Just doing my job.” The side said, picking up his morning star, which Logic immediately took away, Remus making a pouty face and crossing his arms, before brightening and snapping a new one in existence. Deceit held back a laugh at that.

“Your job?” Logic prodded, laying the morning star he had down gently on the couch. Anxiety managed to get ahold of his breathing and shrugged Deceit’s arm off of him, watching Remus and his morning star warily, ready to bolt at a moments notice if he tried any more shit.

“Like I said, I'm Creativity.” He tilted his head. He was a very different picture than the other Creativity, holding a morning star and smiling dementedly.

“Yeah, um, no.” Princey said, shaking his head. “I’m Creativity, there's only one.”

“Besides, I don’t think Thomas needs two Creativities. Maybe you could do something else?” Morality added, rocking back and forth on his heels with a gentle smile, clearly faking.

“Hold on, why don’t we talk about this some more? Remus might be very important to Thomas and we should listen to him. He might be bringing something to the table the Creativity can’t.” Deceit seemed to be the only one who saw the hurt look on Creativity’s face at that, quickly hidden by a flat mask without emotion. Deceit didn’t feel too bad for him though, his ego needed to be taken down a few notches anyways.

“Yea! You see, my dear brother takes care of making Thomas think of unicorns and flowers and I have him think of zombies and murder! It’s a very efficient system.” Remus crooned, not looking at the group and focusing on polishing his morning star, not seeing the disgusted looks that flickered across Morality’s, Anxiety’s and Creativity’s faces.

“I don’t think Thomas really needs to think that stuff, it isn’t necessary.” Morality said, shaking his head and crossing his arms. Anxiety nodded in agreement, tugging on his sweater strings and Deceit flashbacked to dozens of years ago, to a small boy in the doorway of a dimly lit room, scolding them for telling a story while a shorter in a hoodie nodded along. 

“That’s kinda mean.” Deceit said, glancing at Remus. “He exists, so that must mean he’s necessary.”

“Well, thinking those thoughts can’t be good for Thomas.” Anxiety muttered flipping up his hood and glaring at him from the depths of it. “They aren’t good thoughts.” 

“I agree. There’s no need for those kind of thoughts to go through Thomas’s head, he’s a good person and those thoughts aren’t good.” Morality chimed in.

“ **_What if you kidnapped Joan so he could never leave you?_ ** ” Remus shrieked, projecting his voice into Thomas’s head. Anxiety and Morality immediately began to project as well, yelling about thinking the wrong things and how gross he was being. 

“ **_What would it taste like if you bit into your grandma? Juicy probably!”_ ** He screeched over them and they doubled their volume, trying to get to Thomas. His discomfort and unhappiness were obvious to everyone in the Mindscape and Deceit scowled at the chaos in the room. This wasn’t going to be good for Thomas at all.

“Hey, can we all calm down for a second? Remus, please stop doing that.” Logic tried, flinching away from Remus as he projected his voice and yelled something about dogs.

“ **Enough!”** Anxiety screeched in his Tempest Tounge and that’s when Deceit knew it was hopeless.  **“This is bad and wrong and disgusting! What the hell is wrong with THomas that he can come up with this stuff?”** The lights flicked off and Logic mouthed something, but no one heard him over Anxiety.

“Anxiety, please!” Deceit yelled, ignored by the side who continued to yell about how wrong this was. “You need to calm down, this isn’t good for you or Thomas.” He tried to put his hand on his shoulder but Anxiety shoved him away.

“Anxiety, now!” Logic screamed and Deceit realized what he had been mistaking for his own adrenaline was Thomas careening towards a panic attack. 

“Can everyone please stop?” Morality begged, watching everything fall apart around him in a panic.

“Deceit!” Creativity hollered as Remus said something about cars, Anxiety and his voice battling for dominance. He made eye contact with the creative side and tilted his head. He covered his mouth, then pointed at Anxiety. He did the motion several times over before it hit Deceit.

He was supposed to muffle the two sides, make them stop. He raised his hand, preparing to do it, then he hesitated. This could severely damage his relationship with the two sides. But a jolt of Thomas’s fear ran through him and he realized if he wanted to help, he had to do it now.

He raised both hands and summoned the power he hadn’t used for years, closed his eyes and sent out a surge of power, trying to latch it in on Anxiety and Remus. Once he felt their limbs connected to him as well as his own, he sent a silent plea to God for this to work and pulled sent a mental signal to cover their mouths. And just like that, the room went silent.

He opened his eyes cautiously to see Anxiety trying to pull his hand off of his face, red and silently screaming into it. Deceit accidently made eye contact with him, and made a mental note to lock his door at night for a little bit. Remus however, looked intrigued by this new skill he had learned of.

“Good job, Deceit. Had that continued much longer, we would have been in a less than ideal situation.” He nodded to Logic, too focused on keeping them muffled to say anything. At least this was easier than hiding them completely.

“And this is ideal?” Creativity laughed, gesturing to the gagged sides. 

“Did I say it was?” Logic countered, adjusting his glasses. “It would be significantly worse if Deceit hadn’t stopped it though.”

“I’m not sure this was the best idea though.” Morality whispered. “I mean, taking away freedom of speech isn’t exactly a solution.” Deceit turned to the moral side, finally snapping. This bullshit had gone on long enough and he was about to start yelling when he realized his mistake. He whipped back around to see both sides, hands free. He desperately tried to use his powers again and stop them from speaking but it was too late.

**“What if you killed your neighbor and fed him to your dog?”**

Deceit felt the Mindscape shake and they were all thrown to the floor as Thomas fell into a panic attack. Shouts and shrieks were heard from all sides as the Mindscape was plunged into darkness and the floor began to shake, making it impossible to get up. 

This wasn’t Thomas’s first panic attack, they knew what was happening and why, but god, it never got any easier.

The sides all felt the effects of the panic attack to varying degrees. Morality and Creativity were both useless during this time, unable to do anything other then try to breathe. Logic and Deceit were both affected to lighter degrees. Logic could normally help most of the time but a quick glance in his direction told Deceit that this time he was gonna be useless.

Anxiety controlled everything during this time and in order to get Thomas to calm down, they had to get Anxiety to calm down. It wasn’t an easy job and most of the time, Thomas to function, exhausted himself before that happened.

Deceit stumbled across the shaking floor, trying to keep his legs steady enough to move as his heart pounded. He was always affected the least by this, generally just having more trouble breathing, heart beating faster and shaking a little bit. Thus, he found it pretty easy to find Anxiety, huddled on the ground in a lump, shaking.

“Can you hear me, Anx?” He cooed laying next to the side. He had learned not to touch him by this point. He didn’t get a response from the side, which was typical. Most of the time he was too far gone to hear him. “Well, i’m gonna count off and if you can hear me, i want you to breathe in time with my counts. Let’s start by breathing in 1, 2, 3,4, good now hold it, 1, 2, 3,, 4, 5, 6, 7, now out, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Again.” He went through to count again and again, knowing it was pointless. If Anxiety couldn’t hear him and Deceit couldn’t touch him without making it worse, there was nothing they could do. After about 3 minutes, he felt the ground shudder hard and he knew that they hadn’t calmed down fast enough. He sighed loudly and rolled his eyes as Thomas passed out and darkness crashed across the Mindscape. 

The various sides would all wake up in their rooms the next day, heads pounding and exhausted, Remus nowhere to be found. They would cancel whatever was planned and spend the day alone in their rooms while Thomas watched Parks and Rec.

_ *One Week Later* _

Deceit was going to lose it. Anxiety was avoiding him because he was salty about the whole “shutting him up thing” though Deceit guessed that he was probably just embarrassed about the whole thing, with Christmas coming up, the three light sides were churning out videos right now so that Thomas could relax over the holiday and Deceit hadn’t talked to anyone in ages.

Simply put, he was bored out of his mind.

That’s why, when he saw the Imaginations door was cracked open, instead of closing it like a sane person, he opened it wider and peeked inside.

He wasn’t sure what he expected. Maybe some kind of castle or nice forest.

Whatever it was, he definitely didn’t expect to see was a creepy woods, a dark and shadowy path covered in leaves, wind whistling ominously.

Now, Deceit wasn’t stupid. He knew that he was in a horror movie at the moment and the audience was screaming at him not to go forward, to go back to his room and watch tv.

But Deceit never listened to anyone but himself so he stepped forward, putting his foot down slowly onto the path, letting go of the door as he did so.

And just like in the movies, it slammed shut behind him. He jumped at the loud sound and cursed as he pulled against the cold doorknob, knowing it wouldn’t open. They had made it that way so none of the things inside here could escape. Only the Creativities could open the door, seeing as they were the only ones who ever went into here.

That was a severe oversight on everyone’s part. 

Deceit shivered as a cold wind whipped through the trees and pulled his cloak closer around himself, wishing he had thought to go back and grab a coat before coming in here or you know, not come into here at all.

But sitting here and beating himself over this wasn’t going to help, as he could see the sun hovering over the horizon and knew that night was going to come fast, not to mention the strange creatures that could be in here. This was Remus’s side obviously and judging how he acted, he wasn’t the type to have fairies and kittens. But with some of the stories Creativity told, with Dragon-Witches and monsters he had to fight, his side wouldn’t be a walk in the park either.

He needed to find a Creativity and get the hell out of here, now.

He stepped forward, wincing at the loud crunch. Of course, any side of Thomas would make the crunchiest leaves possible. Hopefully, it wouldn’t alert anything to his presence. He continued forward, the crunch of his feet and the whistling winds the only sounds around as he moved down the path. A fog settled over the forest slowly and he started to get hungry. When was the last time he ate? He tried to remember but couldn’t. Sides didn’t need to eat in the same way humans did, but they still needed to have some food every now and then and they needed to drink something as well. A moment later, his foot went through the leaves and kept going, not hitting the path.

He shouted in pain as he fell forward and cursed wildly, laying against the dirt path for a minute, tears in his eyes. He had fallen into a burrow of some kind and his ankle was definitely sprained. 

Wincing, he pulled his foot out of the hole and pushed himself to his feet, leaning on a nearby tree. He tested putting weight on it, wincing as pain shot through it. It was bearable for now but he really needed to get out of here.

He started walking carefully, putting the least weight possible on it, only to freeze immediately as he heard a low growl to the left of him.

He whipped around, almost losing his balance as he saw some kind of bobcat thing creeping towards him. But it had horns? And it’s teeth were dripping some kind of bright yellow goo, glowing brightly. Some of it hit the leaves and he heard a hissing noise as the leaves shriveled up.

Oh, Hell no, that thing was  **not** coming near him.

He began to back away slowly, raising his cloak to make himself look bigger, silently thanking Anxiety for making him memorize how to deal with wild animals attacks, though he thought it was stupid at the time.

But the thing began to growl louder and stalk closer and closer, baring its teeth. Deceit cursed mentally, clearly Anxiety had been wrong about this whole thing.He out his arms down and turned around, running as fast as he could in the opposite direction, heart pounding as he heard the growling behind him grow even louder before he was slammed to the ground.

He rolled over to see the cat charging at him, growling loudly. Knowing he didn’t have enough time to run, he put his arms over his face, squeezed his eyes shut and hoped the thing would make it quick. Hopefully, Anxiety wouldn’t be too upset over this whole thing was the last thing he thought before a large weight landed on his chest and two heavy paws pulled his arms away from his face. He felt the warm breath of the creature on his face and then ...a tongue?

After several seconds of licking and quiet growling, he opened his eyes slowly.

The oversized cat thing chirped and nuzzled his hand. He pet it on autopiloit, watching it in amazement as he re-evaluated what had just happened. The growling was purring. The cat thing just wanted cuddles. He wasn’t going to die. He sighed and fell backwards onto the leaves, laughing as he used his free hand to cover his face. He was so fucking stupid!

“Missy!” A voice called and Deceit sat back up as the creature meowed loudly, flopping down against Deciet’s side, still purring.

Remus jogged into view still swinging around the morning star he had gotten a week ago. “Dee-Dee, you came to visit me! I’m so happy to see you, it’s gets so lonely out here!” He cheered as he saw Deceit lying there. Deceit cringed at the nickname. 

“Your cat thing isn’t terrifying at all. I didn’t think it was gonna maul me.” He said, climbing to his feet. The cat mrrped in complaint as it’s cuddle buddy vanished. 

“Yeah, Missy is freaky!” He smiled and scooped her up, the cat laying it’s head on his shoulder. 

“Missy?” Deceit asked. 

“Yeah, it’s short for Missile Launcher!” Deceit laughed at that.

“That’s a good name for her.” He said, shivering again as the wind picked up speed, whipping right through his thin cloak and going straight to his bones.

“Dude, you could have froze to death out here, like some kind of human popsicle. Come with me, we’re going to my house.” Remus ordered, not waiting for a response but setting course off of the path. Missy blinked lazily at him over Remus’s shoulders. He debated following for a second, but realized he didn’t really have a better choice, so he slowly followed, being careful of his ankle.

About five minutes in, Remus turned around and saw Deceit around 20 feet behind him.

“Why are you so slow?” He shouted, far too loudly. Deceit rolled his eyes.

“My ankle’s sprained and your forest had too many fucking roots.” Deceit scowled, trying to go faster while staying on his feet.

“Well, why didn’t you say anything?” Remus yelled and he came back towards Deceit. He figured he was just going to walk slower or offer his arm as a support thing. He definitely didn’t expect to be picked up with one hand and deposited on his shoulders. He shouted, narrowly avoiding falling off by Remus pushing him back up. “Hold Missy.” Remus ordered, passing the cat up to him. Speechless, he took the cat and cradled her in his arms as Remus grabbed Deceits legs to hold him on and continued moving. He didn’t even seem to be struggling to hold them up and Deceit was silently impressed.

“Thanks.” He rasped after a brief minute.

“No problem, snake-face.” Deceit stiffened at the nickname and instinctively prepared to issue a scathing retort, but caught himself at the last moment. The nickname, for once, hadn’t had any negative intent. It was friendly and almost kind in a way. Deceit smiled at that and continued to pet the cat in his arms.

Deceit allowed himself to relax and drift off. It was getting warmer and he was so tired. He waved between conscious and unconscious, the world hazy. He registered a dim cry of alarm as he fell forward and hiss as a large weight fell out of his arms. And then, blackness.

Faintly, he heard purring and a crackling fire. He dimly recalled the past events, but everything was so foggy. He wrenched his eyes open reluctantly and saw a side pacing back and forth in front of the fire and a cat thingy on his chest. He stared at them for several seconds, trying to register where he had seen them before then memories started to filter back with more detail. Remus, The Imagination,  _ Missile Launcher _ , all of it flooded back. He must have made a noise of some sort because Remus whirled around, eyes wide. They stared at each other for a few seconds, then Remus threw himself onto Deceit, the cat mrrping in complaint as it was jostled. “DEE-DEE! I’m so glad you’re okay!” He shouted way too loudly. “I thought I lost you, you fell and you were like a popsicle and I guess cause you’re part snake, your cold bloodedness must have sent you into a coma or some shit, so I brought you here and warmed you up and now you’re awake, but I was really worried there, snakey!” He said very quickly, all in one breath. Deceit struggled to process that, his mind sluggish.

“There was need to be worried, this doesn’t happen all the time. I shouldn’t have seen the signs.” Deceit lied, it being easier for him. Remus blinked at him questioningly before throwing his head back and laughing.

“Oh, Deceit! You say things backward! That’s so cool!” He yelled, smiling before sobering quickly. “This happens all the time? No, no, that’s no good. I’ll be right back, I have the perfect thing.” The side jumped to his feet and ran out of the room. His feet pounded up a set of stairs in the other room and he heard footsteps moving around in the room above him, before Remus came running back, holding a black mass and smiling widely.

“What’s that?” Deceit asked, confused. Remus grinned even wider and unfurled it to reveal a huge, thick sweater.

“I saw this movie once and there was this scene where he wrapped his victim up in one of those asylum straight jackets things and he ran those wires and stuff they use for electric blankets through it and baked his victims alive and I got curious if I could replicate that, I can’t, it just got really warm, but with a few adjustments and adding a control for heat levels and such, you could use this and then this will happen a lot less!” Deceit stared at him, struggling to compute what he was hearing.

“No, no, I can’t take something you’ve worked so hard on, besides it’s been like this forever. I can deal with it, it’s fine.” He shook his head. Remus’s face fell and then his face got the same kind of look Creativity's did when he was told they couldn’t do two plays at once.

“Yes, you will take it and no, it isn’t fine that you pass out randomly. Yes, you can deal with it, but why should you have to? And what if I hadn’t found you in the forest? You’d die. And I don’t use this, it’s been in the back of the room for years! You’re taking it and that’s final!” Remus ordered, tossing it at him. The soft fabric landed on his face, covering the small smile Deceit had been struggling to hide.

“You aren’t gonna let this go, will you?” Deceit asked, his voice slightly muffled by the sweater.Remus jumped onto the couch by his feet with a smirk.

“Nope! You’re stuck with it!” He said, a satisfied smirk on his face.

“Thank.” He said, sitting up and offering him a small smile in return, wrapping the soft thing around his neck. “Did you knit this yourself?” He asked Remus, noticing the pattern, which was very well done and must’ve required a lot of skill.

“Yeah! I knit a lot of things and I crochet and sew too! I made my whole outfit!” He said, gesturing to the elaborate costume he wore. 

“Same, I spent days trying to get the style right!” Deceit said excitedly. “In the end, I decided keeping it simple and straightforward was best.”

“It looks great, very classy! Kind of reminds me of a Disney Villain!” 

“Good, that was the vibe I was going for!” Deceit leaned forward, showing him some of the stiching he had done. Remus examined it carefully, brow furrowed as he ran his fingers across it.

“I can barely see it, you’re so good at this and it’s so small and even! Here, check out my sash!” He removed the puke green object and passed it to Deceit gently, laying it in his hands like it was glass. Deceit held it carefully, running his fingertips across the soft fabric lightly. Remus watched him closely, making sure he was handling it properly.

“It’s amazing.” He told him honestly. “This must have taken ages, I wish I could do something like this.” Remus took it back and pinned it back to his shirt carefully before springing to his feet and grabbing Deceit’s hand. 

“Here, why don’t I show you my sewing room!” 

“You have a whole room dedicated to sewing?” Deceit questioned as he allowed himself to be dragged up the steps.

“Yeah! Where else am I supposed to create cursed clothing for my victims?” Remus cackled.

“Wait, what?” Deceit exclaimed, grabbing the sleeve of the sweater he had been gifted.

“Nothing!” Remus yelled, pulling him through the nearest door.

  
  


Deceit and Remus cackled wildly as he opened the door and they stumbled into The Dark MindScape, both of them wearing scarves they had made for the other. “And then he just turned to Logic with the most shit-eating grin you’ve ever seen and he said-” Deceit cut off his story as he saw Anxiety standing in the middle of the room, looking like he wanted to murder and hug someone and he was still deciding which to do.

“Hey, Anx!” Remus waved obliviously. “Where do you guys keep the hot chocolate?” He waltzed towards the kitchen and started peaking into the cabinets.

“Deceit, where have you been? You’ve been gone for hours, I was worried sick! You can’t just vanish and hide from me like that and then come back with someone like him!” Anxiety didn’t even try to keep his voice down and he knew Remus had heard every word. His stomach started boiling with anger and his frustration with Anxiety had reached its limit.

“When did you start caring where i’ve been or what i’ve been doing? I haven’t spoken to you in over a week, you’ve been avoiding me like the plague and ignoring me everytime I try and check on you! And someone like him? What the hell does that mean?” Deceit snapped. Anxiety rolled his eyes.

“You know exactly what I mean, don’t play dumb.” He huffed.

“Why don’t you enlighten me, Anxiety? What do you mean?” His voice was calm and even, but if Anxiety said what he thought he might say, Deceit was going to slap him.

“He’s a bad side, duh! He literally caused Thomas to have a panic attack!”

“No, you caused Thomas to have a panic attack because you couldn’t handle a few Rated-R thoughts! God, you sound like Morality!” 

“Is that really so bad? Morality has a point, there are okay and not okay things and some of the things Remus said were far on the not okay spectrum.” Anxiety spat, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Oh, Morality had a point, did he? Tell me, did he also have a point when he told us we were bad and didn’t have any place in a good, pure, Christain mind?” Deceit started off calm but his voice got louder and louder until he was shouting at Anxiety. His hands were shaking and he shoved them in his pockets in order to keep the others from seeing that.

“Maybe he did! You have to admit, we aren’t the best sides! I freak Thomas out! You betray people’s trust! We are horrible sides and we aren’t good for him!” Anxiety shouted. A deathly silence fell over the room and Deceit insides turned cold and his brain shut down.

“Get out. If the Light Sides are so good, why don’t you go live with them?”

“Maybe I will!” Anxiety yelled at him and then stormed off down the hallway. He heard the door to Anxiety’s room slam open and the walls shook as it slammed into the wall. There was stomping around and cabinets doors being thrown open. Deceit crossed his arms as Anxiety came back into the room, a duffel bag thrown over his shoulder. “The Others have always been nice to me, both before and after the Split. The only reason you talked to me was that you had no one else. At least they actually care about me.” He hissed at Deceit, eyes flashing with rage.

“Oh, yes, Morality throwing the two of us out was so kind and caring. And Princey absolutely adores you. The reason I was in your room after every nightmare, every problem, 

every incident, was because I hated you, that’s definitely what happened. God, Anxiety, why are you like this? You’re so deluded! They don’t care about you, they don’t care about anyone but themselves! Open your eyes!”

“I’m done with your lies and deceits. Goodbye, Deceit.” Anxiety said, shaking his head and walking out the door to the Light Side. Deceit watched the door swing shut behind him slowly and his heart stopped. He almost yelled after him, tried to keep him from leaving but held himself back. Anxiety would realize he was wrong soon. He’d come back soon. He was sure of it.

“I’m sorry.” Remus said quietly from behind him. Deceit raised an eyebrow at him.

“For what?”

“I should’ve brought you back right away. I knew he didn’t like me, I shouldn’t have come inside. I should've found you sooner, I should’ve closed the door and none of this would’ve happened.” Deceit stared at him, mouth agape.

“You know what, you’re right.” Deceit said. “If you hadn’t left the door to the Imagination open, I wouldn’t of have a great day and knitted scarves with my best friend. I wouldn’t have gotten to spend time with you and have a lot of fun.” Remus smiled slightly at that and looked at the ground, avoiding Deceit’s gaze. “Hey, look at me.” Deceit told him. “Anxiety lied. You are not a bad side. You are doing your job and you’re doing it perfectly, okay?” Remus nodded and then yawned loudly. 

“Well, Dee-Dee, I think it’s fair to say that we’ve had a very long day, so I think it’s best I hit the hay!”

“Okay, what room do you want? We have two extras on our side of the MindScape.” Remus looked at him questioningly. “Well, it’s hardly proper for one of Thomas’s sides to live out in The Imagination all alone. Only if you want to move in, that is.” Deceit offered, waiting for a response. He didn’t have to wait long as Remus’s face lit up.

“Aw, Dee-Dee! You want to be close by me, that’s so sweet!”

“Offer revoked, stay out in The Imagination.” 

“Too late, you’re stuck with me!”

  
  


_ One Month _

“Remus, what the hell is that?” Deceit asked, looking at the creature that was lying in the middle of their living room. He wasn’t even surprised anymore by some of the things Remus brought home, just confused.

“This is Steven! I made him!” Remus said proudly, beaming as he looked at the blob creature that was oozing slime all over the carpet. It looked like what would happen if God combined an oyster, a crocodile, and a rat.

“Cool, what is he?” Deceit walked over to the couch carefully, making sure to avoid all the puddles. 

“He’s a pit creature!”

“Ahh, I should have seen that immediately.” Deceit said. The Pit was a hole in the Imagination where creatures of different species mated and Remus investigated the offspring. He brought the coolest ones home to show Deceit.“What animals was it this time?”

“Anna and Carson!” 

“Yeah, I can see the resemblance.” Deceit examined the creature from his perch on the couch, making sure the thing came nowhere near him. He had just dry cleaned his cape and he was not letting that thing get anywhere near it. “It has Anna’s eyes.”

“Yeah, he really does!” Remus turned his puppy dog eyes on Deceit and he groaned loudly, knowing exactly what was coming.

“Noooooo, he’s not moving in with us. He belongs out in the Imagination! We don’t even know what he eats or if his slime will come out of my carpet.” He avoided Remus’s gaze as he stuck out his lower lip and turned up the sad look. “Besides, we already have Missy, Pathos and Phil! We can’t handle anymore animals!” Pathos was his yellow ball python and Phil was Remus’s weird Kraken/octopus/squid/eldritch abomination. 

“But Dee-Dee!”

“Noooooooooooooo.” Deceit groaned. “The only way that thing could be safe to keep in the house is if he was in a cage and that’s inhumane! He belongs in the wild, where he has room to run and have fun.” Remus laid down next to Steve with a loud, drawn out sigh. Deceit sighed even louder in return. “Tell you what, why don’t we put him back in The Imagination and I’ll let you bring in a cleaner,  _ non-toxic,  _ creature.” He compromised. Remus sat back up with a grin. 

“Really?”

“Non toxic.” He repeated, looking Remus in the eyes. “It cannot be poisonous. Or venomous.” He added quickly. Remus made a face at that.

“Coward, why don’t you live a little?”

“Wanting to live a little is exactly why it cannot be poisonous.”

“Ughhhh, fineeee.” Remus jumped to his feet and lifted Steve up, laying the slimy creature over his shoulder. The entirety of his outfit was covered in the opaque goo at this point and he wiped his free hand off on his shirt quickly before offering it to Deceit. “Would you like to accompany me on this trip to fetch our new housemate?” He asked. Deceit smiled and accepted the hand.

“I’d be delighted. “ He responded, smiling softly at the big grin that split across Remus’s face.

“Then let us continue onward, into the great unknown!” He yelled.

_ The next week _

Deceit watched Remus interact with the newest member of their family with a small smile. He was currently attempting to train the strange bird creature not to steal Deceit’s clothes for it’s nest and it was not going well. 

“We don’t touch this, okay?” Remus said loudly, holding up the most recent mangled piece of clothing. The bird swooped forward and knocked him over and snatched it with his claws. Remus huffed as he climbed to his feet as Deceit muffled his laughter, covering his mouth. “You’re supposed to be on my side here! Madge, get back down here!” Madge just cawed loudly from the tree branch, clearly not intending to move for awhile.

“I change my mind, Steve would’ve been easier to deal with.” Deceit laughed. “Why did you pick the sassiest animal in the forest?”

“I didn’t pick you, fate did and fate chose well.” Deceit chuckled, feeling his face turn red and he shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Sstop.” He said in a joking tone as he moved over by Remus and looked up at the bird. “How are we going to deal with this?”

“Same way as always. Ignore it until it becomes potentially life threatening and then fix it just enough so it’s not life threatening anymore.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

  
  


_ Two Months _

Remus watched the snakey boi move around the kitchen, the thick pair of headphones Remus had given him to replace the ones Missy had destroyed sitting on his head. He was cooking them dinner and silently mouthing along to the lyrics of whatever song he was listening to and bopping his head to the rhythm, completely unaware of his audience. Normally, he would sneak up on the side, but for some reason, he was content to just watch him dance. He subtly took a picture and slipped his phone into his pocket. Later that night, he would spend an hour gazing at it, the relaxed and happy look on his friend’s face sparking a warm feeling in his chest.

_ Three months _

Deceit moved about his room, straightening everything on his shelves and lining them up, trying to make them absolutely perfect. Once he finished that, he turned his attention to the dresser drawers, trying to make all of his clothes fold the same way so that they looked  _ just right. _ It took like half an hour but finally, he deemed it good enough to move on. He circled his room, randomly adjusting things that looked a little out of place. He was thrown out of the rhythm though, when there was a loud pounding on his door. “Snake Boi! Open the door or I’ll kick it down!” Remus’s voice boomed through the door. Deceit knew he wasn’t kidding, he’d done it before, so he hurried to open it.

“Remus.” Deceit barely got the word out before he was lifted up and placed on the taller side shoulders. He yelped in surprise as he quickly used to wall to balance himself. Remus did this often, taking advantage of his height advantage to lift him onto his shoulders but it still startled him.(Remus had checked after the first time he did it and Deceit assured him that he didn’t mind.) “So, what adventure am I being dragged on today?” Deceit chuckled as Remus grinned up at him.

“You are now legally obligated to participate in movie nights with me!” He exclaimed, running full tilt down the hallway. Deceit held back a cackle as Remus barely avoided slipping and sending them both tumbling to the floor and gripped onto his hat tighter

“Be careful!” Deceit cried as he almost knocked a photo frame to the ground. 

“That’s not in my genetics!” He yelled before skidding to a halt in the living room. He tossed Deceit through the air and he landed on the couch. He sat back up, face red, as he adjusted his hat and fixed his cloak, doing his best to look dignified.

“I was doing things, Remus.” He said, not really meaning it. He had just been letting his thoughts run wild. 

“You pick the movie, I’m gonna make popcorn with gummy worms, skittles and m&m's.” Remus called from the kitchen, ignoring him. Deceit hissed at him, fighting down a smile. Remus insisted that the cursed mixture was fun and exciting, but he would never get over the betrayal of expecting a nice chocolatey package and meeting the sour yet sweet inside of a Skittle. “You have no sense of fun and tension, Dee-Dee!” Deceit chose to stay silent, instead flipping through the movies they had. He quickly narrowed it down to two horror movies that he knew Remus had been waiting for a chance to watch. Reading the summaries, he picked the one on the left and popped it into the DVD player. “Oh, I’d been waiting to watch this one, good pick, Dee!” He passed over a bowl and he immediately noticed there was just popcorn and m&m’s.

“Thanks, Remus.” He smiled at his friend, who just shrugged and laid his head on Deceit’s shoulder.

_ 8 Months _

Remus fidgeted with the bundle in his hands, standing outside Deceit’s doorway. He had been thinking about this for awhile, but now that he was actually about to do it, he was really having second thoughts. This was the one thing that he couldn’t risk doing impulsively, he needed to be absolutely sure of what he was doing, Deceit deserved that much. He raised his hand to knock and then quickly lowered it. It was way too late, the flowers weren’t pretty enough and this whole thing was stupid anyways. Before he could go back to his room and continue to go through the thousands of plans that he had deemed not good enough, the door swung open and Remus’s heart stopped.

“Horrible to see you, Remus.” Oh, no, he’s lying, which means he’s really tired and you woke him up, now look what you’ve done, you moron. Or maybe he’s telling the truth. God, why did he do this? “Wow, you’ve been silent for more than five seconds! I wasn’t aware that was something you could do.” Remus just shifted his feet, gnawing on his lower lip and avoiding his gaze, trying desperately to think of something to get him out of this awkward situation, but for once the creative sides mind was blank. Deceit’s eyes narrowed and he moved closer. “Hey, what’s going on?” He said, clearly concerned. “You know you can tell me anything, right?” Here we go, deep breath Remus, just blurt it all out at once, you’ve got this.

“So, I’ve been feeling kind of weird around you for like two months, not like bad weird, just weird and I wasn’t sure what it was but then I figured it out and I was like, duh, how did I not see it, but I was worried that you didn’t feel the same way and I made these flowers in The Imagination and basically all this is a weird way to ask you to go out with me and I totally understand if you don’t want to and I hope this do-” Remus’s words were stopped by Deceit cackling wildly, hanging onto the door frame for support, unable to hold himself together. Remus’s brain short circuited as he watched the lying side absolutely lose it.

“Oh my God, we’re both such idiots.” He choked out, before being sent into another fit of giggles. Finally, he managed to pull himself together. Gasping for air, face red and hat having fallen off, he said, “Jesus Christ, my gay ass has been pining over you for ages and now it turns out you’ve been doing the same and we’re both so stupid.” He went spiraling into another bout of laughter, this time just sinking to the floor with giggles. Remus stared at him as his mind slowly caught up and he began to grin and then slowly, started laughing and cackling like a madman. Overcome with laughter, he didn’t trust himself to stand so he joined Deceit on the ground. Slowly, but surely, they both regained control and the laughter becomes giggles, the giggles became chuckles and chuckles pittered out into a comfortable silence.

But eventually, someone had to say something and so Remus propped himself up on one arm and held up the black and yellow, slightly squashed bouquet. “So, do you want these? They got fucked up a little bit.” Deceit nodded and held them against his chest, still breathless.

“So, we’re boyfriends now, right?” He asked, rolling over to face Remus, making sure not to squish the flowers. 

“I mean, if you want?” Remus grinned at him as he blushed and nodded

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

  
  
  


Deceit knocked lightly on Anxiety door, using the pattern he had always used since they were kids. He heard a gasp from inside the room and then a bunch of papers being moved around, before the door opened a crack and Anxiety peered through it.

“Deceit.” He said. His face and voice betrayed no emotion

“Anxiety. May I enter?” Anxiety hesitated before opening the door wider and allowing him inside. He stepped through the threshold and looked around. “A lot more decorations than I remember.” Deceit mentioned, eyes lingering on a card that laid on his nightstand. “And a new hoodie. Love the updates.” His throat was tight and it hit him that this was going to be a lot harder than he thought it would be. He shut his eyes and reminded himself of what Remus told him.  _ He’ll be happy for you, excited for us. Maybe he’ll even come home. You never know what might happen. _

“What do you need, Deceit?” Anxiety asked, ignoring what he had said. Deceit cleared his throat and avoided his gaze.

“Well, you see, Anxiety-”

“Virgil.” Anxiety correct him and his heart stopped.

“Virgil.” He repeated and he nodded. 

“That’s my name. Virgil.” Deceit nodded, watching him fiddle with his hoodie strings in silence. He opened his mouth to add something but shut it, looking away from Deceit. Deceit started to say something, to compliment his name and for how much courage it must have taken to admit that when he heard Morality calling from downstairs

“Virgil, kiddo, dinner is ready!”

“Yeah, I’ll be right down, Patton!” He hollered back before turning to Deceit. “Look, man, I’ve got to go. Just go back to your side and stay where you belong. We shouldn’t even be talking to each other.” Anx- Virgil, told him. “Was there something you needed or are you just here to mess with me?”He asked. Deceit shook his head. 

“It was nothing, I'm just gonna go.” Deceit backed out of the room and Virgil closed the door behind him. He looked at the dark purple door, with storm cloud stickers and notes on post-its covering it for a second and then turned away, intending to go back to his boyfriend and watch him take notes on whatever abomination had spawned in the night, when he came face to face with Logic.

“Deceit. Why are you here?” Logic said stiffly. He sounded strange and his face was weird, like this wasn’t someone he had spent many hours with, in the dead of night, debating about the most serious and ridiculous topics.

“Why shouldn’t I be here?” Deceit returned.

“I must warn you, no one here has anything but negative feelings towards you and if you continue to cause Virgil distress, I will be forced to take unseemly actions against you.”

“Cause him distress?” Deceit laughed incredulously. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“I never kid. Judging by what Virgil has told us and the fact that he just told you to leave, you have caused him nothing but trouble.”

“What he has told you?”

“That you threw him out after he disagreed with you.”

“I threw him out? He disagreed with me?” He repeated dumbly. It was the only thing he could do, his brain had just shut down on him.”Logic, you can’t actually believe that.”

“Logan. My name is Logan.” He told him, adjusting his glasses.”And I do believe that. Virgil would have no reason to lie.” He glared at Deceit. “You, on the other hand…”

“Logan, please! You’re smarter than this, you know me! I thought we were friends!”

“You are correct in that. We were friends. Now, we are not. Go back to where you belong before I get Roman to escort you there. And he will be much harsher than I have been.”

“Roman?”

“Creativity. Now, go.” His old friend told him. He looked into his eyes, scanning for any sign of the side who had passed out on the floor of his room, more times than once. And he saw nothing.

“Fine. Forget everything we had, because you’re too blind to see the truth. See if I care.” Deceit spat and whipped around, his cloak flapping behind him. He stomped down the steps, not making any effort to hide from the others.

“Hey, Deceit! What are you doing here?” Morality, or Patton as Anxiety had called him, asked. He didn’t respond, pushing past the cheerful man and slipping through the door between the two halves of the mind.

  
  


Deceit told Remus what had happened the next day. He hadn’t wanted to share right away, so the two had ignored it and watched movies and made gloves and clothes for the whole day. But you can’t ignore your problems forever and so after breakfast, Deceit explained what had happened with Logan and what Virgil had said about him. And as he expected, Remus was pissed. 

“That little bitch! How dare he do that to you? You’ve been by his side for years and he threw it all back in your face! I’m gonna make him fucking sorry for this, he has no rgiht to treat you this way!” He yelled, storming towards the door that separates the two halves of the mind. Deceit jumped in front of him, putting his hands on his chest to stop him.

“Hold on!” Remus stopped and looked down at him.” It’s fine, Remus. They can think what they want about me, I don’t care. If they turned their back on me this easily, they weren’t worth keeping. ” Remus sighed.

“But they’re wrong! You haven’t done anything to deserve this. It’s not fair! You deserve so much better!”

“And I have better, right here.” He kissed Remus softly. “You’re the only person I need.”

“Alright, Dee-Dee, I won’t tear him limb from limb, just for you.”

“Thank you.”

Deceit lead the way up the mountain, leading his blindfolded boyfriend across the path. It was as safe as could be, the path wide and smooth, but Deceit still made sure to be extra careful. 

“Dee-Dee, I'm all for experimenting, but you’ve got to tell me first.” Remus cackled as Deceit rolled his eyes.

“We only have a little bit farther to go, just calm down.” He scolded the impatient side, who groaned loudly. Deceit groaned even louder back to assert dominance. Before Remus could respond, he spotted the clearing up ahead “Here, it’s just up ahead.” Deceit said, walking Remus over to the middle. “Don’t take your blindfold off!” Deceit said, louder than he needed to. Remus huffed and crossed his arms.

“Dee-Dee!” 

“Quit being a five year old, it’s only for a second longer. And don’t move, there’s a cliff behind you!” The cliff was over twenty feet away but he wanted to make sure he stayed still as he went into his pocket and pulled out the velvet case from inside of it. He flipped it open, making sure the jet blacks rings were still in there. Remus’s had a small yellow snake on the inside and Deceit’s had a small green kraken thing. They were simple but nice and he desperately hoped Remus would like his. He cleared his throat and knelt down, throat dry and heart pounding. “Remus, take the blindfold off.” His voice was a lot calmer than he expected it to be. Remus sighed in relief and ripped the blindfold off.

“Thank G-” He cut off whatever he was going to say almost immediately.”Deceit, what are you doing?” He whispered, staring at his boyfriend. Deceit looked up at him and the speech he had planned fell out of his head.

“Um, I love you, Remus. I love the way you can make everything so inappropriate, I love the way you care for every single animal in The Imagination, I love t-”

“Yes.” Remus interrupted him. Deceit looked up at him, making sure he heard him right. “Yes, I want to marry you.” He fell to his knees and pulled Deceit into a deep, long kiss. When they broke apart, Remus slipped the ring intended for him onto his finger. “It’s beautiful, like a certain side I know.” Deceit chuckled, slipping his own ring on. 

“Can we stand up? This hurts.” Deceit asked after a moment.

“Yeah, I can’t believe that this is how you see the world all the time.” Deceit shoved him, but he pulled Deceit into another kiss. 

“You can’t kiss me every time you want to get out of something.” Deceit warned him.

“Oh, can’t I?” Remus said smugly, giving him a quick kiss again. Deceit looked at the ground, blushing hard. God, why couldn’t he do this to Remus? Curse God for making him not tall enough to kiss his stupid finance at any given moment.

“Well, we should probably get going back.” Deceit said after about five minutes of just kissing each other and looking at the chasm across from them.

“Ughhhh, do we have to walk all the way back down?” The man-child by Deceit whined.

“No, I hate walking even more than you do. I brought parachutes.” Deceit said, pointing at the two packs laying at the end of the path that brought them here. 

“Thanks, Dee-Dee!” They helped each other get linked to their packs, making sure they were secure.

“Do you want to do this together?” Deceit asked, extending his hand to Remus. He nodded and took it.

“Let’s get this bread!”

Hands linked tightly, they charged off the cliff.

Deceit may not have been someone who needed friends. But that’s because he had something better. A husband who would always be by his side and that was all he would ever need.

**Author's Note:**

> this story sucks and i'm sorry.


End file.
